Battle of the Planets
Plot Following Invader protocol, Zim sends out space probes to the planet Mars to see if it has any potential use for the Irken Empire. When his probes bring back images of artificial-looking structures, he flies the Voot Cruiser to Mars with GIR, in order to figure out what killed the "Marsoids". He hopes that whatever destroyed them may also be used to destroy Earth. He stumbles upon the Face on Mars, which turns out to be the control panel to a spaceship that the Martians built themselves. Zim discovers that the reason the Martians are no longer around is that they worked themselves into extinction. Zim decides to use Mars to crush out life on Earth. Meanwhile, he calls the Almighty Tallest regularly to fill them in on his plan while the Tallest are busy performing the Organic Sweep on planet Blorch (which includes launching Invader Skoodge in a cannon). However, Zim's plan is discovered by Dib, who was monitoring the Mars probe video feed on his computer. He witnessed Zim take control of Mars and began flying it to Earth. Dib enlists the help of a mysterious NASAPLACE janitor to help him defend Earth with his own spaceship. This other ship was built on Mercury, similarly to how the Martians built theirs, thus beginning the battle of the planets. The battle takes them to the Sun, then to Saturn, but Dib and Zim are evenly matched for most of the fight. In the end, neither Zim nor Dib are the victor. Zim tries to lose Dib in an asteroid belt, but Dib doesn't follow as he thinks going into an asteroid belt is "just stupid", and Zim is pummeled by asteroids. Dib would have succeeded in exposing Zim during the battle, but the video cameras he was using to record it were stolen by GIR. Facts of Doom Trivia of Doom *This episode marks the first and only time that a Swollen Eyeball agent's real identity was revealed: Agent Darkbootie, who works as a janitor at NASAPlace. *This episode was originally planned to be the season one finale, though Nickelodeon later expanded the season order, making Tak: The Hideous New Girl the season finale. *This episode is a favorite of Nickelodeon's because it actually helps the plot along, unlike other episodes. *In one scene, both Almighty Tallest Red and Purple talked and laughed about the time when Zim called being covered in meat. This could be a reference to one of the previous episodes entitled Germs, as was shown to the viewers that Zim came to school covered in meat at the end of that episode. However, Red says that the meat fused into Zim's skin and he almost went blind, which must have happened offscreen. This could mean that the tallest appear to be watching his missions without Zim noticing himself. *This episode utilizes semi-3D animation more than any other episode. *This is one of three episode with Skoodge before series cancellation. Numbered in order, they all are: *#The Nightmare Begins *#'Battle of the Planets' *#Hobo 13 *The audio from scene where Courtney Lilly is almost crushed by Mars has become popular as a scam on Flipnote Hatena. *Gaz's voice was heard in this episode, but she wasn't physically seen in the episode. This is the same in Planet Jackers. Things You Might Have Missed *As the Tallest are launching the organic sweep on Blorch, you can see one of the Rat People about to eat a rabbit. *When the Tallest initiate the Organic Sweep, the Shuuvers laser the Irken symbol onto Blorch. *When they re-enter earth's atmosphere, GIR can be seen roasting a weenie. *Mars can be seen approaching Earth when Dib's rocket splits. Animation Errors *When Zim drives Mars after activating the thrusters and after the scene where everybody was screaming, Zim was eating a sandwich with a Irken insignia on it. However, in the next scene, GIR had the sandwich, without the insignia on it. *During the scene where GIR goes to Mercury to mess with Dib, the face on Dib's shirt is missing. *When Zim launches Mars' moons (Phobos and Deimos) at Mercury, it causes a crater to appear on the front of the planet. However, the crater disappears after a few scenes. *Dib's rocket broke into separate parts when it flew by Zim, though it appeared to be connected together when Dib was seen on Mercury after Zim says "You horrible interfering Dib!". *When Dib is flying past Zim, headed to Mercury, he appears as if he is going in the wrong direction; however, since the planets are often in varying orbits, he may have had to pass Mars to get to Mercury. *When Zim contacts the Almighty Tallest in his bear suit, his eyes become crooked for a moment. *Although it took Zim a while to get to Earth, during the battle both Dib and Zim went out as far as Saturn in no time at all. However, Zim was going at full throttle and with the boosters on during the battle, so this could be possible. *In the episode, Mercury was coloured grey even though the planet is brown. *It was impossible for GIR to take Dib's cameras; The cameras can still be seen after GIR flies away from Mercury, yet they are gone later. *When Zim first takes off the hood to the bear suit, his antennae are green like his skin, not black. *If you watch carefully, you can see Zim's PAK disappear for a moment when he is getting the data from the Mars probe. *When the face of Mars is transforming and GIR falls in, when Zim yells "GIR!" his tongue is orange, the same colour as the sky. Quotes Zim: Some of this landscape looks unnatural, as if nature was not involved in its formation, but the sensors show no life-forms. Whatever wiped out these… "Marsoids", must have truly been incredible! GIR: What that do? What that do? What that do? WHAT THAT DOO?!? Ooh, what that!? (starts banging head on the controls) What it do?? What it do? WHAT THAT DO?!? Zim: Whoever they were, they left no clue of what wiped them out. They just left these stupid structures here to taunt me! I hate them and I hope they d-! (kicks a Martian skull, then chuckles) ...Oh, yeah. Zim: Mission accomplished, my Tallest. I have rid this solar system of the planet Mars. Tallest Purple: I thought you were trying to destroy the Earth. Zim: Oh, yes, that... You heard wrong, this time I was trying to get rid of Mars. You know, just a little warm-up before I destroy the humans! Yeah, I'll do Earth next... I'm an unstoppable death machine, you know. Well, Invader Zim, signing off! Zim: Maybe that little robot isn't such a bad evil minion after all. Zim: You shouldn't interfere with a superior life force, Dib. You would have been better off staying on your own planet and getting squished just like everybody else! Dib: Yeah, well you should have never come to Earth, because I'll stop you at every turn! Zim: Let's see if you're skilled enough to navigate through the Asteroid Belt evil DIB thing! Dib: That's just stupid.... Zim: Get off my head GIR. Zim: People of Earth, prepare to taste the mighty foot of my planet! Holographic Alien Head: My people worked themselves to extinction turning this planet into a rocket. Zim: Why would you do that? Holographic Alien Head: Because it's cool. GIR: Mm-hm. Invader Skoodge: As the Invader responsible for this planet's downfall, I get to launch the traditional final cannon sweep, right? Tallest Red: Uh, ...yeah... Invader Skoodge: So that no Irken comes in contact with unwanted alien filth! Hoo-aah! *farts* See also *Battle of the Planets (Transcript) *Battle of the Planets Screenshots References *http://www.tv.com/invader-zim/battle-of-the-planets/episode/114856/summary.html Category:Double Length Episodes Category:Season 1 Category:Dib Filmography Category:GIR Filmography Category:Professor Membrane Filmography Category:Zim Filmography Category:Almighty Tallest Filmography Category:Episodes Category:Skoodge Filmography Category:Altered Episodes